The present invention relates to winged aircraft generally and, more particularly, to an arial disk.
In order for conventional winged aircraft to stay in flight, airspeed and altitude must be maintained. Significant airspeed is needed to generate the lift required to maintain altitude. When airspeed is insufficient to generate lift, the aircraft will lose altitude. The loss of altitude can result in a crash. Since the aircraft operator is often attempting to maintain or increase airspeed in the time immediately proceeding a crash, significant damage to the aircraft and injury and/or loss of life usually result. Conventional attempts to reduce the airspeed were required to provide lift by design techniques such as short, wide wings that can result in low efficiency aircraft. The conventional solutions do not significantly reduce crash damage.
Additionally, conventional winged aircraft can only develop lift when flying rapidly in a forward direction. As a result, conventional winged aircraft have limited maneuverability for avoiding a collision.
It would be desirable to have a method and/or apparatus for winged aircraft that would (i) provide lift without forward motion, (ii) aid maneuverability, and/or (iii) detect when airspeed and/or other conditions are insufficient to maintain flight and provide a safe mode for landing.
The present invention concerns an aircraft comprising a body, a number of air foils, and a plurality of disks. The disks may be rotatably coupled to the body and configured to (i) rotate in the same and/or different directions, (ii) rotate at similar and/or different speeds. The air foils may be configured to provide lift and control in a first mode and the disks are configured to provide lift and/or stability to the aircraft in a second mode.
Objects, features and advantages of the present invention include providing an arial disk that may (i) provide stable flight, (ii) detect when a crash is imminent, (iii) have a controlled descent during loss of power or airspeed, (iv) reduce aircraft damage due to crash, (v) reduce occupant injury and/or loss of life due to crash, (vi) provide improved maneuverability, (vii) be implemented in commercial, personal, and/or military aircraft, (viii) be implemented as a toy aircraft, and/or (ix) be economical.